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Super Micro Computer’s (SMCI) stock is collapsing, with shares plunging 27% in Thursday morning trading after federal prosecutors charged co-founder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun with operating a $2.5 billion smuggling scheme involving banned AI GPUs and servers to China.
The U.S. indictment alleges the group violated export controls by routing high-performance hardware (believed to be Nvidia (NVDA) GPUs) through Southeast Asian shell companies. This bombshell lands atop SMCI’s already checkered past, including a 2020 SEC settlement for widespread accounting violations involving premature revenue recognition and understated expenses.